


Written in your DNA

by LeAmazingAz



Series: ℳiraculous - Destiny❃ [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Backstory, Bee Chloé Bourgeois | Queen Bee, Bee Miraculous, Bisexual Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Butterfly Miraculous, Butterfly Nathaniel, China, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, F/M, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Fox Miraculous, Gay Male Character, Gen, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Lotus Miraculous, M/M, Marinette Dupain Cheng has a brother, Marinette Dupain-Cheng's Birthday, Marinette is a princess, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Miraculous Team, New Miraculous Holders, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Peacock Miraculous, Peacock OC, Post-Season/Series 01, Royalty, Tags Contain Spoilers, Trans Male Character, Turtle Miraculous, Turtle Nino Lahiffe | Carapace, Why isn't that a tag?, Worldbuilding, and a chaotic gay, and the brother is a hot mess, i made that up and it is mine, miraculous guardian, nathaniel kurtzberg appreciation because there is none here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22390492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeAmazingAz/pseuds/LeAmazingAz
Summary: A year ago, Marinette Dupain-Cheng got the Ladybug Miraculous from Master Fu. For a whole year, she fought Hawkmoth relentlessly, but Chat Noir and she still hadn’t managed to defeat him. And that was okay. Marinette had yet to turn sixteen anyway.Turning sixteen meant so much more than just growing up for her though. It meant ten years away from home. It meant a decade of pretending to be someone she wasn’t. It meant that the faces of her old friends were starting to blur together.It meant skipping her own coronation, abandoning forever her role as princess of China. Not that she really cared about it, she much preferred fashion and given the chance she would have still chosen it. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.So what if she is given the chance? What if she gets to go back, to see her friends again and discover her own origins while she’s there? What if the Miraculous were much more intertwined with her life than she thought? There is so much she wants to know.And so little time to do it.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois & Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant (minor), Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Lin Da, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Yuki Roy, Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Zheng Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Master Fu, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Yuki Roy/Lin Da
Series: ℳiraculous - Destiny❃ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611640
Comments: 27
Kudos: 104





	1. I think we might have a problem❀

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Princess! Marinette story. Yes, I know they went out of fashion years ago, but I wrote this back in 2017 after finishing the first season and only now decided to translate it. This was first written in Italian, and what you’re about to read is an English rewrite. It’s not precisely the same as the Italian one, but I’m trying to keep it as similar as possible. Thanks for understanding.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari tries her hand at prophecies and her class gets a special invitation because of it

_«Are you ready sweetheart?» A short, thirty-something man stopped right in front of the doors of the small private airport._

_«Yes, yes, yes! Oh, I’m so nervous, it’s going to be amazing dad, isn’t it?» Right beside him, Marinette kept skipping along, dragging a small suitcase that she’d been insisting on carrying by herself. Her short raven braids bounced on her shoulders in time with her small jumps, tickling her neck, but she was so excited she couldn’t stop skipping.  
«Muuum, come on! I want to see aunt Sabine and uncle Tom.»_

_Laughter, clear and crystalline. It reminded her of the glass shards she strung together and hung outside the window so they could jingle when the wind blew.  
«I’ll be there in a moment. Let me just grab this.» The woman who answered was as slim as her husband but way taller._

_«Do you really have to go?» The girl turned around towards her friend. She felt like crying at the blurry sight of the other girl’s slumped frame, standing close to her mother and just out of reach.  
«I don’t want you to go. I’ll miss you too much. In fact, I’ll miss you so much I’ll die.» said the older girl, hiding underneath her light brown bangs._

_«Oh, Yuki.» She left her dad’s side, letting the small suitcase fall, and hugged her friend as tight as she could, but the blurriness still wouldn’t leave. «Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon. You won’t even notice I’m gone.»_

_«I’m pretty sure she will. She’s sensitive like that.» She looked to her left, and there there was Lin. She stuck her tongue out to him. The boy was quite fairly skinned and his hair was really dark. He always reminded her of the small vampire child she saw on a cartoon on the TV._

_«Lin, that’s not a nice thing to say. Do apologize to Miss Roy.» Did Mr. Da’s voice always sound so sad? She couldn’t really remember._

_«Sorry Yuki.»_

_«It’s fine.» Yuki and Ai let go of her, and she immediately went to hug Lin. He was the perfect height to be hugged, though he didn’t like hugs much, unlike… unlike the other two kids. She couldn’t remember their names, but they weren’t there. Why weren’t they there?  
Lin’s awkward pats on her back brought her back from her musings and she giggled._

_Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yuki’s mum shake Lin’s dad’s hand. «I’m glad you changed your mind, Wu»_

_Mr. Da sighed, and Marinette felt his dark and penetrating gaze on her and her friend. «I couldn’t do that to Lin. It wouldn’t have been fair.»_

_«It would have been more than fair if you had kept him home too. We would have understood,» said her dad as he put a hand on his friend’s shoulder._

_Mr. Da shook his head, but Marinette couldn’t see if he was smiling or frowning. «You’re a good friend, Qiu.» He turned around, and she immediately let go of Lin. She looked at the doors of the airport and smiled, then ran to pick up her suitcase._

_«Looks like someone is excited,» laughed Yuki’s mum._

_«Of course I am! I get to stay with aunt Sabine and uncle Tom in Paris! I’ll be like a super secret agent.» She struck a pose, making her dad laugh too. His laughter was so different from her mum’s, louder and booming, like an avalanche of joy._

_She went to pick up her suitcase and looked at her two friends, their faces getting too blurry to distinguish. «So, I guess it’s a goodbye.»_

_«We’ll see you again, I promise,» said Yuki, hugging her again, while Lin held her hand in between them._

Marinette rolled in her bed, already mourning the ghost of her friends’ hug as the memory began fading away. She let some quiet tears flow down her cheeks but immediately wiped them away. Her bed had been getting colder and colder the past few days as her birthday neared. It was a pitiful sight.

_Her dad put a light hand on her shoulder, startling her. «We should go.»_

She couldn’t bear it any longer.

Her eyes snapped open, and she didn’t know whether to be grateful or exasperated by the late hour. Getting up in the morning would be a difficult task. Her room was shrouded in darkness, with the only light coming from the small window behind her chaise-longue. She checked the time on her phone, almost getting blinded by its brightness. ‘ _1:34_ ’ it glared. She glared back.

Do you guys know that feeling when you’re so tired you could sleep for a month but at the same time you can’t sleep because you have so much energy left and you don’t know what to do?  
Marinette felt exactly like that, so she slowly got up, careful not to wake Tikki, who was sleeping soundly on her pillow. She opened the skylight that led to the balcony and climbed through.  
There wasn’t much wind outside, a cool breeze was the only thing that softened the slight heat of that May night. Summer was coming. She could already feel it.

The Eiffel Tower shone brightly, covering up all the stars. Marinette couldn’t see a single one. She leaned on the cold railing and looked off into the distance, trying to remember the details of her friends’ faces, but it was a lot harder than she expected. It was a lot harder than she wished it were.

A wave of something akin to regret washed upon her, leaving an empty sadness in its wake. She loved Paris, and she loved her uncle and aunt, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss China. And forgetting the faces of her closest friends from back then… it hurt, there was no way around it.

A light thump on the floor behind her shook her from her thoughts. She should have known.

“Isn’t it a bit cold out here, _Purr_ incess?” Chat Noir hopped on the railing beside her, swinging a leg in the void. You could almost hear the smile in his voice.

“Hello Chat. How’s patrol going for you tonight?”

“Well, there’s nothing weird going on for now, so that’s good. It’d be better if my mind didn’t keep going back to tomorrow’s test though,” he laughed.  
Marinette laughed along him, thankful for her partner’s ability to lighten every situation. She had come to appreciate that very much in the past year.

“What about you? What’s keeping you up so late?”

“Oh, just thinking.”

The mood had sobered quickly, and Chat seemed to have noticed that. He was staring at her with an apprehensive look that he usually reserved for Ladybug only.  
“What’s the matter?”

Mari debated in her head whether to tell him or not. On one hand, Chat was a good friend, if not one of his best friends together with Alya. She trusted him with a lot of things, both as Ladybug and as Marinette, and he always respected her and her choices.  
On the other hand… She feared she wouldn’t be able to stop herself if she started talking. She didn’t want to spill too much.  
In the end, the more guarded side of herself that would rather stay safe won.

“It’s nothing really.”

“If you say so.” I assure you, he wasn’t convinced though.

The two looked at the moon in silence for a couple minutes, though Chat started trying to make figures out of his breath. He was particularly insistent about one looking like a rose.

“You look about to nod off Mari,” he said quite out of nowhere at one point. To be fair, he was kinda right. Marinette had been falling asleep the last few minutes, leaning heavily on Chat’s shoulder.

“Guess you’re right.” She stifled a yawn. “I think I’ll go back to bed. Don’t stay out too late if you have a test in the morning though.”

“Yes mum.”

Marinette snorted. He could be so silly at times. “Good night Chaton.”

Chat winked and smiled like the goofball he was. “Every night’s a good night for me. Sleep well Princess.” Then, he leaped off the roof and began running off towards Notre Dame.

Marinette followed his retreating figure as far as she could, which was not much seeing that it was night. When she couldn’t see him anymore, she sighed.  
“You don’t know how right you are.”

Marinette was, of course, right too. Waking up was a nightmare. Tikki had to pour a glass of ice-cold water on her face to wake her up, which had been fun for the kwami, but not so much for her. It was already way too late to sit down and have breakfast, so she just grabbed a couple of macarons and ran.

Alya was patiently waiting for her near the steps of the school, scrolling through her phone in search of a scoop.

“Al! I’m he- AH!” Naturally, because she was a klutz, running meant falling for her. That was exactly what she did.

“You ok, Dupain-Cheng?” Marinette looked to her right, where Chloe was standing still and clenching her hands around the strap of her bag. Her brows were furrowed in a deep frown, as though she was debating something in her mind.  
In the end, she walked over and hesitantly offered her a hand. Weird, isn’t it?  
Marinette though looked her in the eyes and took her hand, smiling encouragingly.

I feel like I need to explain.

The fact is, just a few months prior, Chloe had gotten a harsh reality check. Sabrina, bless her soul, had to pull out of school and move due to a family problem. Something about her grandma being ill or so.

For a while, it had been the same as always, though Chloe was getting more and more subdued the more they were able to shut her out.  
Then, one day, she’d come to school without saying a word, without picking on anyone, just heading straight for the back of the class where Nath was busy drawing something. Everyone was ready for her to blow up at the poor guy. That was not what happened.

“Can I sit here?” she asked in an unusually quiet and polite tone.

Everyone thought Nathaniel was suicidal when he agreed, but what really shocked the class was what Chloe did next.  
She sat down and pulled out her things quietly, not looking up at all. And then she _thanked_ Nathaniel. Needless to say, everyone lost their shit.

Since then, she’d been trying to make peace with the others, but it was a slow process. Most people were still wary of her. Marinette herself was kind of ashamed to say that she’d taken a couple months to come around.

Alya… let’s say she was on her way there. At the moment though, she was glaring daggers at Chloe while grabbing the backpack that Mari had dropped.

“Hello Chloe. Come on Mari, we have to go. The bell’s about to ring.”

While being dragged to class by her wrist, Mari just barely managed to call out a thanks to Chloe.

The moment she sat down at her desk, all the tiredness of that morning came crashing down on her. Finals were less than a month away. She yawned and rested her head on the desk. Immediately, a slender finger poked her ribs, and she fell off the bench. If you ask me, that was hilarious.

Alya snickered at her before helping her up. God, that was already twice that she’d ended up on the floor that morning. And she’d woken up half an hour earlier.

“Stayed up all night studying, didn’t you?”

“Nah, just had trouble sleeping. I studied in the afternoon.”

Alya smirked. “You studied in time? That’s a new one.”

Mari laughed, playfully swatting her best friend. Alya just chuckled and started scrolling on her phone again.

“Yo girls.”

“Hey babe.” Alya got her eyes off the screen a second, kissing Nino on the cheek.  
Mari smiled. Alya always seemed to glow when she was with Nino.

“They’re adorable, aren’t they?” Marinette almost got a heart attack, seeing Adrien so close to her.

“Ah, yes, they– they are.”

Marinette went back to looking at Alya and Nino, trying to force down the redness in her face. That’s when she noticed Alya had her ‘I’ve got something’ face on.

“Alright, spit it out, what do you have?”

Alya lifted her face and looked at Mari, then at the rest of the class trickling in and looking at her. She grinned. “Ok, so, this morning I overheard Madam Bustier saying something about some ‘big event’ and ‘huge sponsor’ for next Friday, so I’m guessing we’re going somewhere.”

The class erupted in cheers. Although, Marinette mas groaning on the inside. The following Friday was her birthday. How come she had such awful luck if she had the Ladybug Miraculous?

“That’s correct Alya, though I have to ask you not to eavesdrop next time.” Everyone turned around, watching as Madame Bustier closed the door exactly as the bell rang. “Now, if you could all go sit down I’d like to tell you the details.”

You guys can’t even imagine the rush of thirteen students – because Lila was still MIA and Sabrina had left – trying to get to their spots. I personally admire Madame Bustier’s patience. She only sighed at the mess.

Once things had calmed down, she smiled brightly at the class. “I am very happy to say that a large donation has come all the way from China so that we can spend the next week there. And at the end of next week, we will attend Princess Mei of China’s coronation.”

I swear to everything that’s holy, the class pretty much exploded. Meanwhile, Mari’s mind was completely blank except for one thought.

Who the _hell_ organized her a coronation?


	2. Is that supposed to be reassuring?❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is still in shock and her friends are not as clueless as in canon
> 
> \+ Gabriel is trying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii, sorry for the long wait. School is taking up so much of my time, it's kinda exhausting. Hopefully, you won't have to wait this long again, but I can't give you my word on that. And now, on with the chapter!

Marinette was still in shock two hours later, when the bell rang. Well, actually it was less “still in shock” and more “lost in thoughts”.  
When it came down to how many times Alya had to snap her fingers in front of her to catch her attention though, it made no difference at all.

“Girl, you’ve been out of it the whole morning,” complained the reporter, hands on her hips in her sassiest pose. Then she shot Marinette a concerned look. “Did something happen? Are you alright?”

Mari put a hand on Alya’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry Al, everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure, dudette?” said Nino as he fixed his cap. “Cause you can talk to us if you got a problem. We’re friends.”

“I know. I’m fine guys, really.” She got up and silently slipped her phone into a pocket. She started moving towards the door, trying to distract her friends with her rambling. “You go ahead, I’ll just go to the… uh, the toilet. I’ll join you in five minutes, promise!”

As she ran out of the classroom, Alya, Nino, and Adrien looked at each other.  
Mari had already worried Adrien that night when he had visited as Chat Noir, but now he was sure something was wrong. “I feel like she’s hiding something.”

“I feel you,” sighed Alya. “Hopefully, she’ll tell us. The sooner the better.”

Meanwhile, Mari jogged down the hallway and past the toilet, opting to hide in a broom closet instead. With a bit of luck, no wandering couple would bother her.

“Marinette this isn’t the toilet,” said Tikki, her tone dripping disapproval as she eyed the phone that Mari had pulled out.

“I know. I’ll explain later.” Mari quickly dialed a number, and when Tikki tried to protest she shushed her.

“Marinette?” came Sabine’s voice, “Is everything alright, sweetheart?”

“Kind of? I’m… hiding in a broom closet at school and I have a question for you.”

“That’s not really the answer I was expecting. What’s wrong?”

“Just, did you by any, _any_ chance know something about an organized trip to China to see _Princess Mei_ ’s coronation?”

The silence that followed was a damning confirmation.

“Maman!”

A sigh came through the phone just before the woman spoke again. “I honestly thought your father was joking. He does that often enough. I didn’t expect him to actually do that.”

Mari groaned and passed a hand on her face in frustration, while Tikki sat on her knee and looked at her in confusion.

The girl rested her head on one of the closet’s walls, breathing deeply. If you looked close enough you could see the gears turning in her head at an incredible speed.  
“Can I tell my friends? I mean, not everything. Just that I used to live there,” she asked at last.

Tikki blinked up at her, completely surprised. She knew that her friend had Asian ancestry, but she never would have thought that she had lived in China.

“I don’t know sweetheart. I’m not sure it would be the wisest idea. What if you end up telling them too much?”

Marinette ignored Tikki’s curious and pointed stare“I won’t, maman. I promise.”

“Alright then. It’s not like I can stop you,” sighed the woman. “Be careful, and stay safe. I don’t want stuff happening to you, alright?”

“Of course. Love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

As soon as Mari put down the phone, Tikki flew in her face. “ _Sooo_? What was that all about?”

Mari’s cheeks flushed. “I… I might have not been completely honest with you. Um…” She considered for a few seconds what to say, but gave up in the end. “Oh, it’s not like you’ll be in any danger. I, uhhh like, _may_ have lived in China for the first six years of my life and I may or may not actually kind of be Princess Mei?”

“Really?” Then, os if she took a moment to process the information, Tikki’s eyes widened. “Wait _what_? Mari! Are you serious?”

Mari chuckled and rubbed a hand on the side of her neck. “Surprise?”

Tikki chuckled too and rubbed herself on Mari’s cheek. “That’s incredible. Does that mean Tom and Sabine are actually royalty?”

Mari shook her head. “Maman is because she is King Qiu’s younger sister. She’s my aunt, but it’s way easier to think of her as my mum.” Then her eyes saddened and her jaw grew tighter. “She and uncle Tom had to take me in because of one too many assassination attempts.”

“Oh…” Tikki flew into Marinette’s hands, trying to get the girl to cheer up and cuddle her. Luckily, she did.

“I have to go tell the others.”

“Are you going to lie to them?” asked the small kwami as she looked up at Mari with her big blue eyes. “I don’t think you should lie to them. They all will know in the end, so if you lie to them now they will feel betrayed later.”

“I…” Mari’s resolve wavered. “I think you’re right. I’ll have to think of something.”  
Suddenly, she lifted her head, her eyes once again full of determination. “Come on Tikki, we have to go.”

She looked out of the broom closet, checking that the coast was clear. When she was sure, she sneaked out of the small room and then speed-walked down the hallways and ran over to her friends as soon as she spotted them in the courtyard. She put a hand on Alya’s shoulder, scaring the hell out of the poor girl.  
“I need to talk to you guys.”

As soon as all four of them had found a room that looked like it could give them a bit of privacy, Mari pushed them all in and closed the door behind herself.

“Is this about whatever had you out of it this morning,” asked Alya with a raised brow and her arms crossed in front of her.

“I, uhhh, yeah?” Mari smiled sheepishly, hoping to placate her best friend’s mood. The other girl only gave her a relieved pat on the shoulder though.

“Good. We were actually beginning to worry.”

“What is it, Mari?”

Marinette tried to look at Adrien, she really did, but she immediately flushed up and had to avert her gaze. “Um, you all know Sabine and Tom, right?”

“Of course we do. They’re your parents, dudette.”

“They’re not.”

A hush fell over the room as her friends looked weirdly at her.

“What?”

“They're my uncles. I… I moved in with them when I was six because of… something.”

“Something?” said Alya unconvinced.

Mari put on the saddest, tightest, most pitiful smile she could muster. “I don’t really want to talk about it.” Then she shook her head as if to shake away a bad thought. “But that’s not where I wanted to get. Before that, I lived with my parents in China and, like, not just anywhere in China because dad was kind of high society?”

“Are you serious?” asked Adrien. “That is so cool. Does that mean you know Chinese?”

“Ah, I think. I… it has probably roughened up a bit in the past years and if you were to ask me something in Chinese it would probably take me a while to actually understand you, let alone answer you. I probably will have to revise for this trip. Oh God, I will have to revise for this trip! I’ll have to ask maman to help me out, or maybe I can download a few of those apps for language learning, I know I remember at least two of them, yeah that’s a good–“

Alya caught one of the hands that her friend was waving around like a manic, a sweet smile on her face. “Mari you’re rambling.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. But can I ask you something?” said Nino as he leaned on a desk. “How high is exactly ‘kind of high’ society? Was your dad, like, an actor? Artist? Musician?” Then he tilted his head to the left. “I’m betting on something creative. Unless you took from your mum.”

“I, uh…” She chuckled shyly. “I was actually kind of hoping you wouldn’t ask that.” Feeling her friends’ eyes all on herself, she relented. “Um, like, ‘my dad was a politician and we spent three quarters of the time in the royal palace’ kind of high?”

“WHAT?”

“Alya!” Mari rubbed a hand on her ear, fearing a shattered eardrum because of the other girl’s extremely high shout.

“Does that mean you know the royal family?” asked Adrien. Then his eyes lit up. “Does that mean you know the princess? Is that what this is about?”

Mari smiled sheepishly. “That is one way to put it. I mean, we were part of the same group of friends?” She stared wistfully into nothingness. “Hopefully you’ll get to meet them. You would get along amazingly.”

Just then the bell rang, breaking Mari out of her musings.

“How about you tell us more about them later?” said Nino seeing his friend’s disappointed face. “You know, just in case we do actually meet them.”

“Marinette smiled at him. “I’d like that.”

A few hours and a test later, Marinette waved her friends goodbye, with a promise to tell them more on their usual weekend hangout.

Adrien left school with a promise as well. He’d asked Mari if she wanted his help revising her Chinese, but in doing so he’d accidentally extended his offer to Alya and Nino who wanted to learn some basics  
So now home he went, with a very important – at least to him – paper in his hands and a lot of hope in his heart. He got into the limousine and smiled tightly when his father’s assistant greeted him coldly.

“Hello Nathalie.” He hesitated for a second, glancing at the permission slip with all the information about their trip to China. God if he wanted to go. “Nathalie? Is there any way you can make a bit of time for me to talk to my father today?”

The woman stopped tapping on her tablet and looked back at the poor boy. She tried to keep a straight face in front of Adrien’s almost desperate face, but she just barely managed to. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The simple fact that his request was at least being considered had him let out a relieved sigh. Little did he know that Nathalie was already writing to his father.

Nathalie’s long list of the things he had to do notwithstanding, it was the same long and dull car ride as always. It is when stepped out of the car and into the hall that the surprise came.  
There stood Gabriel Agreste, cold and strict as always on the landing of the stairs right in front of the door. “Adrien. Nathalie has told me that there is something that you wish to talk to me about. Is this true?”

“I… Y-Yes father.” Adrien stood there under his father’s scrutinizing gaze, almost wishing he had never said anything if only to get away. In the end, Gabriel’s words were much more positive than he could have hoped for.

“Go put down your things. I shall join you for lunch. We might as well make use of what little time we have.” Then he left.

Adrien hurried his way to his room and then back to the dining room, where Gabriel sat in front of his usual spot. The man nodded to him as he sat down and the two started eating. The silence didn’t last long though.  
“So what is it that you wanted to talk about?”

Adrien brushed his hand on the paper as he bit his lip. Hesitantly, he took it out of his pocket and handed it to his father. “Our class got a big donation from the Chinese government for a week-long intercultural trip from next Monday to next Friday. I… I was wondering if I could go.”

Gabriel stared at the paper, reading carefully every word as if any of them could have a double meaning. He put the paper down and crossed his hands in front of his face.  
There were, to put it simply, a lot of important names. Ambassadors and ministers and even the King and Queen of China.

“And this… trip… has been organized by the Chinese government, is that right?” he asked with a raised brow.

“Yes father.”

“Hm.” Gabriel considered the situation. It was a great opportunity to widen his influence in the fashion industry and it would be a great advantage for his son later in life. And, well, if the government was in it it was sure to be safe. He glanced at Nathalie.  
“We will have to reschedule the photoshoot for the Vogue magazine, and I will have to skip a few Chinese lessons, though I don’t think that will be a problem. You may go, on two conditions.” He looked straight into his son’s eyes, and found nothing but confidence and resolve in them. Good. “I want you to get as many people as possible interested in my designs. You will be around high society most likely, we could get some really good clients. And second, I want you to bring back photos of anything inspiring, surprising or seducing that you see while you are there. I could use some inspiration.”

Adrien nodded immediately. “I’ll make sure to. I won’t disappoint you, father.”

“I know you won’t,” said Gabriel as he looked at his son. He looked so much like Emily that it was painful at times. He sighed. “Pass me a pen, Nathalie. I need to sign this.”


	3. Family talks are just that much fun❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki is the nicest kwami and Mari has a talk with her family and a special guest...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!  
> So, quarantine's not being kind and neither are my professors. I've been working non-stop for the past weeks and only now got some time to write. And even then I have my headphones on and a literature video playing while I write. It's been a bit stressful.  
> Fair warning. Chapters are probably going to slow down and be even further in-between than they've been until now. Thought I should let you know. Enjoy the chapter!

Just a couple days after their trip was announced, Marinette stood in front of an empty suitcase, wondering what she could ever need. She scanned furiously the open wardrobe and kept tapping away with her foot. It was giving Tikki a headache.

“I think those light jeans could be useful,” said the small kwami. She fluttered around a bit, then settled down on the edge of Mari’s desk. “It’s a trip. You’re going to walk around a lot.”

“So comfy is the best choice,” said Mari lifting a finger and pacing a bit in front of the wardrobe, “but I also want it to be good looking. I mean, the chance that we’re gonna meet Yuki and Lin is, like, really, really high and I want to look good if we do. Then again I’ll have to look classy and sophisticated if we meet nobles or things like that.”  
Then she realized something and she stopped dead in her tracks, looking abrìsolutely terrified. She started pacing the room, slightly panicking. “Oh my God, and what about the coronation? Do they have my dress? Do I have to bring one? What do I need to know for it? I don’t know anything, I’m not prepared!”

She threw herself face-down on the chaise-longue, and Tikki flew over to her and patted her on the head in a comforting gesture. “I’m sure your parents have a plan. It will be alright.”

“How are you so confident?” mumbled Mari with her head buried in a pillow. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “What if I have to actually accept the crown? I’m not ready for that sort of thing, I know nothing. I’m going to make so many mistakes, Tikki. I’ll get the words wrong at the coronation and people will laugh and they’ll remember that forever and they won’t trust me when I’m queen and it’s all going to be a total disaster.”

Tikki let out a low whine and dangled her legs back and forth as she stared down at her friend. Oh, how she hated seeing her like that. “Maybe you could go talk to your mum. I mean, aunt. She did leave and marry a baker.”

Mari sat straight up and looked at the kwami with her eyes wide open and a grin slowly taking over her face. “Tikki, you are a genius. Come here.”

Tikki giggled and floated inside a hidden pocket in Mari’s blazer that she had sewed appositely for her. With her little friend secured, Mari hopped off the chaise-longue and then ran down the stairs, somehow managing not to trip on a step.  
“Maman! Maman, I need to ask you something,” she shouted as she got out of the living room’s door and all but flew (read: fell) down the staircase. She didn’t care much for the clients, mostly because at that time of the day there would be none. It was almost seven. Her parents should have closed a good twenty minutes earlier.

She went into the front part of the shop and nothing, I repeat nothing, could have ever prepared her for the shock of seeing Master Fu calmly talking with her mum. Aunt.  
God, she’d have to get used to calling her aunt again. Whatever. Those were problems for another time.  
“Um, what is going on?”

Her mum – dammit – turned around to face her, looking both surprised and pleased. “Oh, I was just about to call you. Come here. Uncle Fu tells me you’ve already met each other.”

“Uncle Fu?” asked Mari, completely confused. She looked at her da– uncle! She looked at her uncle in search of some kind of explanation and he sighed. He looked weary, like he expected the world to end at any moment.

“Maybe we should discuss this while sitting on the sofa,” he suggested.

“That’s a good idea, darling,” Sabine sent her husband a big smile. “Do you need help with that?”

“Nah, I’m done with it.” He closed the big oven he had been cleaning and put the rag back by the sink. “Will you be staying for dinner, Mr. Wang?” he said as he turned back around.

“If it is not a problem, I would like to. Thank you for the invitation.” Fu nodded at Tom and then looked at Sabine, though not without sending Mari a little smirk.  
There was a weird gleam in his eyes, vibrant and cheerful. It confused Marinette to no end. Nevertheless, she followed Sabine and Master Fu back up the stairs. At least Tom kept sending her comforting smiles.

She risked opening her blazer and glancing at Tikki, but the kwami looked just as confused and shrugged her shoulders. Seeing her uncle getting dinner started, she instinctively went to set the table, pulling out four plates instead of the usual three.

“Do let Tikki out, Marinette,” said Fu, and Mari almost – yes, almost – tripped on her feet and let all the plates fall. She looked up at the old man, but he was just smiling tiredly at her. “I think she might be hungry at this time of the day.”

Marinette carefully put the plates on the table and, under everyone’s gaze, opened her blazer just enough for Tikki to poke her head through. Sabine sighed.

“So I was right. You _are_ Ladybug.”

Marinette looked at her aunt in wonder. “You knew?”

“I… had my suspicions. It wasn’t that difficult, but that’s mostly because I have my own experience with the Miraculous.”

Seeing that her uncle wasn’t saying anything, she turned to him too. “Papa? Did you know?”

“Only because your mum told me her suspicions,” he said. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, smiling the tiniest bit. “I was so scared at first. But I’ve seen what you can do. I’m so proud of you.”

At that point, Tikki must have felt confident enough, because she got out of Mari’s blazer and sat herself on the girl’s other shoulder.  
Tom immediately spotted her and sent her a big smile. “And you must be the little cricket that keeps stealing my biscuits. Are they really that good?”

It’s really difficult to see a kwami blush. That was especially true about Tikki, though it was more about her being red than her not being prone to blushing. That being said, everyone in the room knew that Tikki was indeed blushing. “They’re some of the best I’ve ever had, sir.”

“Is that so? Do tell me…”

Mari left Tikki to her talk with Tom after that and went to get the silverware. “Does you having experience with the Miraculous have anything to do with you calling Master Fu ‘Uncle’?” she asked her aunt.

Sabine smiled at her niece. She had grown so much in the last year, ever since ladybug came around. Yes, giving her the Miraculous had been a good choice on Fu’s part.

“The Miraculous box has been in our family for generations, even though it doesn’t truly belong to us,” interrupted Fu. “All our family has been trained as guardians for a long time. I was the one to train your father and your aunt, as I have done for many generations in the past one-hundred and fifty years. I was going to train you too as a guardian, but you never had the right personality for that. Being Ladybug suited you more.”

“Being ladybug… suited me more?” asked Mari as she leaned on the table. “What does that mean?”

“Mostly?” smiled Sabine. “That you don’t have the patience to study the Miraculous. And you’ve always been way more creative than logical, even when you were just a kid.”

“It made sense to pass on that kind of discipline in a period of unrest like before the wars, or the last few generations since we’ve married into royalty, but it serves no purpose to you,” said Fu, walking closer to her. It was… a bit intimidating to be honest. Which was weird, because he barely came up to Mari’s chest and walked around with a cane, but she had this crippling feeling that something was going on.  
“It’s not like you’re going to need it if you’re not accepting the crown.”

Yep, there it was. “How do you know I don’t want the crown?”

“I know many things, my dear,” chuckled the old man. “Besides, your love of fashion is not unknown. And I’ve heard from your aunt that you won a contest from Mr. Agreste himself. That is something to be proud of, you should not abandon that.”

Mari looked down, avoiding the man’s eyes at all costs. “I don’t. I mean, I am proud of it, I – I don’t want to leave fashion.” She lifted her gaze and looked at her aunt. “I actually wanted to ask you something.”

Sabine didn’t look that surprised to hear that. “You want to know how to deny the crown, don’t you?”

“Am I really that obvious?” sighed Mari.

Tom took a step forward with Tikki flying by his head and put a hand on Mari’s shoulder from behind, startling her a bit. “We just know you well, sweetheart.”

Mari closed her eyes and leaned into her uncle’s warmth. “I… I don’t want the crown. I don’t want to leave Paris, I have a life here. And I know nothing about how to be a princess. But… is there, like, anyone who can take my place?” She hugged herself, curling inwards. There were a couple of tears that threatened to leave her eyes, but she managed to hold them back. There was no reason to make her family worry.

But worried they were when their little smiling girl acted so… subdued. Anxious. Tikki went to cuddle right in the crook of Mari’s neck, where she knew Mari liked having her comforting presence.

Sabine too got closer to the girl. She put a hand on her cheek and had her look up. Seeing her teary-eyed sent a shard of ice through her heart, and not for the first time she wondered just what in the world was her brother thinking. She hugged her daughter – because that’s what Mari was to her – wishing that she didn’t have to suffer.  
“I can’t read your father’s mind, but I know there’s something more to this. He wouldn’t be asking this of you without a reason, and he knows that you’re not prepared for the throne. I’m sure he has something in mind. He always does.” She smiled at the young girl and lightly clutched her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

Well, what can I say? It had worked. Mari threw herself forward and hugged Sabine as tight as she could, though Tikki had to fly away or risk being crushed. Instead, she went to fly by Master Fu, where she found Wayzz hiding behind in the man’s satchel for… no apparent reason.

“Wayzz?”

The other poor kwami startled and looked at her with wide green eyes. “Oh! Um… Hi Tikki?”

“Hi?” she asked, maybe dragging the ‘I’ a little longer than usual but who could fault her. “What are you doing there?”

“Ah, just… not used to so many people. You know?”

“You just need some confidence” she chuckled softly and nodded, then went to sit by her friend in the satchel to try and encourage him, though she was still listening out for her holder.

Speaking of, Mari was still hugging Sabine, and they had been joined by both Tom and Fu. The latter had a bit of difficulty finding some space for himself though.  
“Thanks, aunt, thanks, uncle,” she said. And well, didn’t _that_ put a whole new bummer on the atmosphere. Tom and Sabine’s hearts broke a little at the faint reminder that she wasn’t actually their girl. Their hug loosened for a split second, even less, but it immediately got as tight once again, if not tighter. That didn’t mean Mari hadn’t noticed, but she choose not to comment on it. It was breaking her heart too.

Tom was the first one to pull himself together and let go of the others. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and smiled at everyone else, though you could see the shadow of sadness in his eyes. “Well, I don’t really feel like cooking after this long of a day. How does takeaway sound?”

None of the others had any quarrel with it, so while Tom was on the phonemSabine guided Mari to the sofa and sat down next to her. “Here. I’ll teach you what you need for the coronation, and uncle Fu can help us too. Hopefully, it’ll be enough.”

Mari glanced around, trying to take in everything. From her aunt so supportive to Fu who was a surprising addition to her uncle who was laughing at Tikki as she dragged Wayzz with her. Yes. Everything would be just fine. Though as she thought that, a weirdly heavy feeling settled on her stomach.


	4. Friendly Chats in the dark night❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir talk about the technicalities of leaving and Mari has a much-deserved breakdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yes, the title is a pun.  
> Sorry for the delay, I've had a school-induced creative burn-out and it took me soooo long to write this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

The night was one of the most beautiful moments that could ever exist. The soft moonlight shone on the opposite side of the Eiffel Tower, lighting up the dark sky.

Marinette zipped up and down the streets in her Ladybug suit, taking a brief pause every now and again to glance down an alley shrouded in shadows. She lifted her gaze, barely catching her partner’s silhouette. I mean, I get it; black on black is kinda hard to see. Thank God for the flash of silver of Chat’s baton.

She smiled and threw her yoyo towards the tower, rehearsing in her head what to tell him. That was going to be a weird discussion.

She landed on one of the beams and looked around for her partner, who had managed to disappear from her sight.

“Looking for someone?” came Chat’s voice right above her. She looked up and there he was, hanging upside down and smiling like an idiot.

She smirked and sat herself down too, her back on a beam, still looking up at her partner. “Nahhh, just admiring the view.”

Chat threw her a flat, unconvinced look and in a couple seconds they were both laughing their wits out.  
“You know, it’s a good thing you called me here. I was about to ask you to meet up too,” said Chat as he wiped a fake tear out of his eyes. He jumped down from his own beam to sit next to her and sent her a flashy smile.

Mari’s eyes widened slightly. “Did something happen?”

The boy waved a hand away, shaking his head in reassurance. “Nothing bad, though it might complicate things a bit,” he said. Then, as if he’d just remembered something, he made himself comfortable against the cold metal and turned towards her. “Anyway, you said you had something important to tell me, didn’t you?”

“Oh! Um, yeah, I… Yeah. So, um…” Mari fidgeted a bit in her place and started playing with her fingers. “We may have a _liiitle_ problem.”

Chat’s ears flattened and he got a worried look on his face, with his eyebrows scrunched low together. “Nothing too bad I ho—“

“I’m leaving” she interrupted him.

Chat’s eyebrows shot so high they almost left his forehead. “WHAT?”

As he launched himself forward in shock, the poor boy lost his balance and found himself falling off the beam with a strangled yelp.

“Chat!” shouted Mari, leaning over the edge. Luckily, the other was hanging from the beam right below and glaring up at her as he clung to the metallic structure for dear life.  
Goddammit. She’d had a plan, she knew what she was going to say, why did she say _that?_ It was the worst possible way to put it!

“Sorry,” she said as she held out a hand towards her partner. He gladly accepted it — still glaring at her, mind you — and hoisted himself back up.

“What do you mean that you’re leaving?” he spat as soon as he was back to the relative safety of his previous spot.

She threw her hands towards her partner and waved them around frenetically. “N–Not like that! It’s just a temporary thing, it shouldn’t take long.”

Chat let out a relieved sigh and threw her the most unimpressed look he could muster. “You scared me, my lady”

Mari awkwardly rubbed her neck and looked away from him. She only turned back towards him when he started talking again.

“So,” he’d said while she wasn’t looking, “when are you leaving?”

“This Saturday morning, and I won’t be back for at least a week,” she said. She looked off towards the city and hoped to be right. She wanted to be back in a week. She _needed_ to. For herself just as much as for her city.

Chat’s voice shook her out of her thoughts. “Can I ask why? Or is that too personal?”

Mari shook her head and smiled slightly at her partner. This one she couldn’t get wrong; Tikki and her had come up with an excuse to give Chat and she’d been repeating it in her head the whole day. “You’re fine. My uncle is having problems and we’re going over to help him out. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.”

It wasn’t a complete lie, much like the one she’d given her friends days before, but it still stung a bit.

“Oh,” said Chat. He tilted his head and looked at her with big green eyes filled with sadness. “I hope it all goes well for you.”

“Thanks Chat,” she smiled, and got another smile in return.

It was Chat’s turn to sigh this time, and as he crossed his arms behind his head and leaned on them he said “man, Paris is gonna be in a lot of trouble next week then.”

“I’m more worried about you than Paris.” The words surprised her too as they left her mouth. That’s not to say that she didn’t care about Chat, but she’d never thought she’d ever put him before her beloved city.

Chat seemed just as surprised as her. He leaned towards her, freeing his hands, and looked at her with his ears perking up on his head. “Really? How so?”

“Well I mean, you’re my partner, of course I worry about you,” she said, waving a hand in front of her face to try and cool down the fierce blush she could feel taking over her cheeks. “Besides, I’ve talked to Master Fu about this—“

“Oh yeah, the oh so elusive Master you’ve mentioned. What did he say?” interrupted her Chat.

She halfheartedly glared at him and rolled her eyes at his not even slightly sheepish expression. “Well, he said that kwamis can feel each other’s presence. Not, you know, super precisely or anything. Just the general proximity. And, I mean, if Hawk Moth feels that I’m away and you’re here alone… Well, akumas are not going to be pleasant to deal with on your own.”

Chat laid back on his arms once again, looking completely lost in his own mind. His eyes flickered around, until they finally settled on her as he tilted his head slightly to the side. “Then we’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m leaving for the week too.”

Mari whipped around so fast she almost hurt her neck. “Really?”

“Yup,” said Chat, popping the p. “I’ve got work to do abroad, more or less in the same time span. Shake hands, look pretty, let people drool over my glory, you know how it is.”

As the boy broke out his most confident smirk, as well as the ever-so-rare wink, she playfully shoved him away and they began laughing once again.  
“Sounds like some extreme good luck. Are we _really_ sure I’m the ladybug around here?” she joked as their laughter faded into the pale silence of the night.

“I’m sure I would have noticed if I’d suddenly become as amazing as you are,” chuckled Chat.

“You flatterer.”

“I know. It’s my best quality.”

Mari shook her head at him and looked off once again. The night air was incredibly still and few sounds could be heard in the unusual quiet of the capital. “This is so weird.”

“What, the lack of akumas?” asked Chat as he played with the black leather of his tail. “It’s only been a couple days, give it time. We’ll be back to fighting day and night as soon as we’re back. Hawkie’s probably just as tired as we are.”

“I still don’t like it. It’s too quiet,” grumbled the girl.

Chat smiled sweetly and put his chin on one hand as he looked at her. Between the moon and the fading lights that shone on the tower, she looked almost like an angel.  
“I take it you didn’t have a troublesome night on your patrol yesterday.”

“Not even a skirmish. It’s insane. And worrying.”

“It’s not worrying,” insisted the boy, “we’re just not used to it. It’s a lot better when there isn’t much going on. Though I have to admit I’m getting quite restless.”

“Think being drooled over might help you out on that one?” smirked his partner, and he chuckled at her antics.

He jumped to his feet, keeping his precarious balance on the thin beam and stretched out with a loud nghhh. “Welp,” he said at last “I better get going if I want my patrol to be over before dawn. Unless, of course, you want to tag along and help out.”

“I’m good for now. Need to prepare myself for good old boring civilian life,” said Ladybug as she rose to her feet too, though much more carefully than he had.

“Of course, of course. Seriously though, good luck.”

The girl turned back towards him and sent him one of her sweet smiles, the ones that had her eyes sparkling with joy, and said “you too. See you next time!” Then, she took out her yoyo and zipped away into the night.

With his heightened sight, he tried to follow her figure in the darkness, but in a matter of seconds, she had already disappeared. Adrien sighed and once again looked around.

Of course, he’d never tell Ladybug — she was already anxious enough as it was — but the eerie quiet of the last month was putting him on edge too.  
Sure, the chance that Hawk Moth was actually getting tired too was there, but their mysterious nemesis had never given them a time to chill. Not as much as in the last month at least.

Adrien extended his baton and launched himself off the Eiffel Tower and onto the nearest roof — the one right in the corner on the side of the Champ de Mars, as usual — and started walking calmly along the rooftops as he sent a glance down a dark alley or the likes.  
It wasn’t like he’d run into much trouble; as his partner had said, there was hardly any trouble lately. One or two groups of drunk idiots, a couple clubs open… there were even a few couples strolling in the dimly lit parks or along the Senne, enjoying the romantic atmosphere. Really, he just had to keep an eye on the most “crowded” places and he was already almost done. He just had one more thing to do.

He went back to Notre Dame, where he had dropped by earlier in the night to leave something before meeting up with Ladybug. He picked up one single pink rose and off he went again.

His destination wasn’t far this time, and a minute later he was landing on the balcony that was the roof of his friend’s house. The skylight was unfortunately closed, but some dim yellow light filtered through. He could barely see Mari’s silhouette in the darkness, but the girl was obviously up and working on something. Adrien could roughly make out the pieces of cloth strewn on the desk and the faint hum of the sewing machine

He smiled and knocked on the glass, hiding the rose behind his back. Marinette immediately looked up, and he saw her eyes brighten as she saw him, so he waved at her. In a moment, the girl was up from her desk and circling back to go up the stairs and let him in.

“On patrol again?” she asked with a smile and twinkling eyes.

He dramatically — yes, dramatically; he fully acknowledged it and embraced it — brought a hand to his chest and sent her the most offended look he could. “I’ll have you know that being a superhero is a demanding job and that I take it very seriously.”

“I know.”

Adrien looked at her soft smile and returned it. Then he took out the rose from behind his back and laughed softly as her eyes widened. “Couldn’t find anything as beautiful as you, so I had to settle for this.”

“You are a huge flirt, you know?” she said with a small smirk. Then she shook her head as they both chuckled softly. “Thanks Chat. So, what is it that you want this time?”

“What could you _paw_ sibly mean?” he gasped, emphasizing heavily the awful pun. “Can’t I visit my friend just for the joy of visiting?”

“Visit, yeah,” conceded Mari. “With a rose? Come on, spill.”

“Ah, you are far too smart, my friend,” he said as he followed the girl down the stairs. There, she put the flower in a fine white vase on her desk. As he followed her with his gaze, he couldn’t help but notice that there were way less posters than the first time he’d been there, but a lot more photos of her with his civilian self, Alya and Nino had popped up.

“So, a little birdie told me that someone was a bit out of sorts lately” he grinned and he was surprised to see Mari grin back.

“Weren’t you allergic to birds?” she smiled as she flopped onto the chaise longue.

“Only pigeons. All other birds are fine, but pigeons are evil.”

“So you’re telling me seagulls _aren’t_ evil?”

He sent her a deadpan look and raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, fine, you win. Seriously though, are you alright?”

“Yeah, just worried about a school trip,” she said.

He knew already, of course he did, but he couldn’t let her know that. After all, Ladybug was right: having anyone know their identities was too risky.  
“A school trip you say? Where are you going?”

“China, we’ll be there for a week.”

“Really?” he exclaimed with fake surprise. “That sounds cool.”

“I guess it does,” said Mari, looking away from him with a sad smile. Well that was no good.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting down right next to his friend and taking one of her hands in his.

“I…” she began, still avoiding his eyes, “let’s— let’s say that I have history with China.”

“Is that so?” He kept a close eye on her as she mechanically nodded, which — again — was no good. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

This time, she looked at him before shaking her head, but her silence was still disheartening. He put his free hand on her shoulder and flattened his ears against his head, although he hadn’t noticed that. “Do you… Do you want to hug it out?”

Mari looked at him with big sad eyes, and for a moment he thought she would refuse. But then, he felt her thin arms circle his chest, pulling him in a surprisingly strong embrace. He put his own hands on her back, holding her tight. “It’s gonna be alright Mari. Whatever it is, it’ll all be fine.”

“How can you say that?” she whispered, hugging him tighter for a second. “I… There are so many things that could go wrong, and I don’t even have an idea of what half of them are. I don’t know what’s going on or what to do and it’s driving me crazy,” she half said and half sobbed into his chest.

Adrien… never wanted to see her like that again. He much preferred her joyful smiles and the playful camaraderie they had reached. Hell, even the scared, quiet girl she had been around his civilian self at first was better than the one almost crying in his arms. He wanted to shield her from all the bad things that the world could throw at her and the heartbreak she was bound to go through sooner or later.

And if he couldn’t do that, being there for her when she needed him was the next best thing.

“I know it’s gonna be alright because I know you, Mari. You’re smart, and strong, and braver than anyone else I’ve ever met.”  
He let go of her and put his hands on her shoulders like he had done with Ladybug on their first or second battle. He looked deep into her eyes, trying to send her all the confidence and trust he had in her. “Besides, you’re not gonna be alone. You’ll have your friends with you. I can’t say I’ve met them,” — though he had — “but you’ve talked about them enough that I _know_ they won’t let you go through whatever is bothering you on your own. You can count on them to help you out.”

He tucked a stray lock of raven hair behind Mari’s ear, sending her a sweet encouraging smile. He put a hand on her cheek and wiped away a small tear that had gathered in the corner of her eye.

“Thanks,” she whispered, sounding considerably more relaxed than before. Her eyes still held some sadness in them, but it was nowhere near the anxiety and stress he could feel coming from her earlier.

“No need for that. I’m just glad that you’re feeling better.” As he spoke, he caught sight of the digital clock on her desk. God, almost two a.m.  
“I really should go now. It’s far too late, and it’s impolite to keep a lady up past her bedtime, is it not?” he added with a soft smirk.

Mari chuckled a bit, then stood up and went towards the stairs that led up to her bed. Adrien pounded soundlessly after her, reaching the skylight and the balcony in no time. Just before Mari could wish him goodbye, he turned back towards her. “Will you be alright?”

“I will. I… Thanks for earlier. I think I really needed that.”

Adrien shook his head at her stubbornness. “I told you. No need for that.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he tentatively added, “I’ll see you when you come back?”

“Of course. Sleep well Chat,” she said, and he answered with a soft “you too.”

As they parted ways — Mari by closing the skylight and Adrien by jumping away — the boy couldn’t help but look back. Despite everything, he still worried about Mari and her meek attitude, riddled with anxieties and fears, in regards to what was sure to be an amazing trip.

He resolved to keep an eye on her throughout the week. There was no way he was going to let her suffer in silence, whether she realized it or not. Not if he could help it.

And help it he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone!  
> I just noticed, I never introduced myself. So.  
> Hi, I'm Az (they/them please), and I'm the author of this fanfic. I want to thank all of you for the kudos and the encouraging comments that you leave. It's amazing how much support you all gave me with just three badly written chapters, I love you all so much <3  
> This should be the last boring chapter of the fic. With the next chapter we fly away from Paris and the adventure really starts. Unfortunately, it might take even longer to write that one because next month I have exams. It might take until early July for me to update because I don't even know when my exam is yet. They're telling us that in two weeks.  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you want to chat feel free to visit my Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/le-amazing-az  
> See you next time!  
> ↠Az


	5. And so begins the nicest nightmare❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari stresses about leaving, and then stresses when she meets people. At least Adrien is kind enough to help her chill. Or at least he tries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Started writing this. Had a couple breakdowns. Bon appetite.

Mari found herself once again in an airport that Saturday. It was early afternoon and you could just feel the summer coming in the way humidity made the clothes stick to the skin,. It felt so different from the last time, and a big part of that was how much more anxious she felt.  
She held on tight to the straps of her backpack, which was probably the one thing keeping her sane in that moment, and steeled herself to just go and join her class.

A hand on her shoulder shook her out of her thoughts, and when she turned she found her aunt softly looking at her with a tired smile on her lips. «It’s going to be alright, sweetheart. You can do this.»

Mari tried to force a smile on her lips — which is hardly ever a good idea because it’s noticeable — and tightened her grip on the straps. Jesus Christ, her nerves were killing her.

Had her uncle been there too, she’d have probably sunk into one of his soft hugs. Unfortunately though, the bakery didn’t run itself. So, rather than having Tom’s comforting presence, she had to put up with Master Fu’s — or uncle Fu’s if you’d rather — unnerving stares that seemed to look straight into her soul. He hadn’t even spoken a word since they’d arrived at the airport, he just looked at the people passing by.

«And don’t worry about the coronation,» added the old man as he turned to face her and patted softly her hand. «If you have any trouble, I will be there to help you.»

Mari looked sneakily around and lowered her voice to a whisper. «Will you be staying at the palace?»

«I’m afraid not,» chuckled Fu. «I’ll be staying with an old friend of mine.»

«Friend?» said Sabine, directing a little smirk at the man, and he laughed at her antics.

«You shouldn’t tease a man my age, darling.»

«Say hi to Mrs Lenoir for me, then,» smiled the woman.

Marinette was… confused to say the least. She leaned into her aunt’s side. «What are you two talking about?»

Sabine fixed the girl’s hair a bit as she talked. «I’ll explain to you in a text, sweetheart. It would take too long, and we wouldn’t want you to miss the plane. Now, do you have enough snacks for the flight? Do you want some candies?»

«I’m fine, auntie. But I’ll take the candies.»

Sabine laughed, handing over a small bag filled to the brim with colorful things.

«Remember, Marinette,» started Fu, «Tikki has to chew on something while you take off and you land. And check on her from time to time. Eleven hours is a long time.»

«But most of all,» said Sabine as she looked the girl right in the eyes, «remember to have fun. No matter how it ends, this is going to be your week. Ok?»

Mari smiled. «Ok.»

Her aunt drew her hair back and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. «Good. Let’s go join your friends then.»

Mari smiled at her, and the three began walking over to the corner their classmates had claimed for themselves as they waited. There was also quite a number of parents as well, chatting amongst themselves as their kids did the same.  
The only people who didn’t have their parents with them were Adrien and Chloe, accompanied instead by Nathalie and Jean Paul, the ever-so-pristine looming figures.

Luckily the two blondes were joking together — more or less — along with Alya, Nino and Nath, which _possibly_ made up for their parents’ inability to show up. Just maybe?

Oh, who was she kidding, it really didn’t.

She went up to Madame Bustier and quietly got her plane ticket before sneaking up to Alya’s shoulders. Thankful for her friend’s complicity, she suddenly put her hands on her friend’s shoulders, scaring the shit out of her.

Payback, bitches.

“I swear to God, I will wake you up with cold water every day while we’re away,” threatened the brunette.

“So happy to know she won’t be late, for once in her life,” commented Sabine.

Mari hid herself behind her hands, blushing a bit as Alya and her mother laughed along.

“While we wait for these two ladies to stop laughing,” began Nino as he put an arm around Alya’s waist, “has anyone figured out the seats?”

“We have all the seats in rows nineteen and twenty, plus two in row twenty-one,” said Nath. Everyone immediately turned towards him.

He blushed and mumbled a soft “what?”

“Auntie privileges?” asked Nino, wiggling his eyebrows.

“No, not at all,” he stuttered. “She said it earlier. Rose and Juleka also claimed the two seats in the last row.”

Nino laughed. “Chill, dude, I’m just teasing.”

“Seriously though,” said Chloe “did your aunt tell you anything about the trip?”

“Just a little bit,” admitted the shy boy from under his bangs. “Like, I know a couple things we’re gonna do, but I don’t know when. Mostly because we’ll have guides and they’ll be the ones deciding."

“Anything you can tell us in advance?” asked Alya. Always on the scoop she was. Mari didn’t refrain from telling her, gaining a good ol’ shove for her troubles.

“Well, the visit to the Wall is pretty obvious, but we’ve got an evening out at a festival—“

“Cool!” exclaimed Adrien, but he immediately looked away, all sheepish at having interrupted someone. What a dork.

“Uhm, we’re also visiting the palace one day or another, and—”

“Of course we are,” mumbled Mari.

“Will you stop interrupting him,” said Chloe, which stopped her aunt from patting her mockingly on the back. Then she turned back to Nath. “What were you saying?”

“R-Right, uhm… Well, in honor of Rose and Juleka we don’t have the gender separation in the rooms.” He shrugged a shiver away, slightly put off by all the people looking at him. “They’re all three people rooms though.”

“No gender separation you said?” asked Alya. She grinned at Nino, who sent her a wink. Nath looked at them weird, at least with the one eye that was visible.

“I don’t want to know what you two are up to.”

“Believe me, me neither,” said Adrien, to which Mari added an “I third that.”

“Ok, everyone gather here!” called Madame Bustier. The six went over by the teacher, joined by the rest of the class. Well, Mari was more or less dragged there by Alya, having frozen on the spot.

Everything after that was a bit of a blur. Throughout the whole ordeal, from the check-in to the security to the boarding, she was a mess of nerves. What if her documents weren’t considered valid? After all, Marinette wasn’t her name, Mei was.

Thank God Alya existed. She had taken Mari under her wing and stayed by her side the whole time, thankfully buying Mari’s excuse that she “didn’t get along with planes” without even blinking.

But then Alya had to stop a minute because the metal detector had beeped at her, so guess who took it upon himself to help her?  
Yeah, Adrien did. Which was a whole other can of worms. Mari could hardly breathe. He was _so_ close to her and their arms kept brushing and when her hands got too trembly to properly fasten her bracelet Adrien did it for her and she wanted the earth to open up under her feet and swallow her whole.

And then they were on the plane. Adrien was sitting right in fornt of her, while Alya and Nino were on her right. All in all, it was quite a pleasant flight. She spent it chatting with Adrien in Chinese, trying to salvage what was salvageable. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts — and her aunt’s as well — her Chinese was still average _at best_. Jesus Christ, she could barely speak her first language.

Chilling for a bit was the best option at that point, so she took out her sketchbook and pencils, taking the opportunity to check on Tikki, and started drawing. It was way better than stressing herself out about her speaking abilities.

But then, she got dragged into a chat about what she expected from the trip and Chloe and Nath noticed how much she knew about China, which led to awkward questions, which led to awkward answers, which led to more stress and like… Yikes.

Maybe she was better off sleeping. And sleep she did, so soundly that Alya had to shake her awake when they were about to land. She popped a candy in her mouth, then thightly gripped the edge of her seat. Maybe she wasn’t lying when she told Alya she didn’t like planes.

The landing was rough, the whole plane trembling from the force of it. Besides, Mari’s ears had popped the moment they’d touched the ground so now they were ringing like crazy.

As everyone leapt off their seats, she did too. She grabbed her backpack and peered into it, checking if Tikki was still alive in there. She also took the opportunity to take the purse where Tikki was hiding out of the backpack and put it on.

Once off the plane, they went through the border check — which was just as stressful as before. She could see the two girls inside the cabin chatting it up with her eyes, all like “have you seen her? Doesn’t she look familiar? I’m sure I’ve seen her before”.

She could have sworn she’d felt someone pointing a finger at her. Which, first of all, rude. And second, fuck.  
Were people already starting to recognize her — even though she had never met them — or was she just being paranoid? No clue.

Once they had picked up their luggage again, checked that nothing was lost and, most important, that _no-one_ was lost, they headed off towards the exit hall. And she had to hold Alya’s hand if she didn’t want to get lost. People scampered all around them and the whole place drowned in the noise of it all.  
Taxi drivers left and right held some signs up high, shouting the names of the people they were supposed to drive away. A group of tourists, probably Italians judging from the loud “pirla”, was chatting about at top of their volume, and they were not the only ones.

Near the end of the hall though, there were a boy and a girl decked out in some of the most stunning clothes she’d ever seen and probably not much older than Mari.

The girl brushed a lock of pink-tinted hair behind her ear, her dark tan skin glowing in contrast with her light clothes. The boy, on the other hand, looked like he hadn’t seen the light in years, pale as he was. An uncomfortably familiar memory rushed to the forefront of Mari’s mind. She could already feel her stomach leaping around while her heart yelled diving scores.

The important thing though was that the boy, with his back held straight as he quietly talked to the girl, was holding a sign reading “Mme Bustier & class”.

They sped through the huge room, weaving through the crowds that crossed their way, until they finally reached the two. Well, almost. The two noticed them before they could reach them.

‘“Oh hello,”’ said the boy, his English muddled by a slight accent. ‘“You must be Madame Bustier.”’

‘“I am, I am.”’ She smiled and offered them a hand to shake. ‘“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”’

‘“The pleasure is all ours,”’ he said, gripping the woman’s hand. ‘“I am Da Lin and this is my friend Roy Yuki.”’

‘“We will be your guides throughout your stay,”’ concluded the girl for him.

And Mari could finally die happy — or just straight up die. She hadn’t decided yet.

Alya nudged her with a pointy elbow and whispered “aren’t those your friends?”

On the other side of the girl, Nino leaned over to look at her, while Adrien looked back to spare her a glance.

Mari nodded.

‘“If you’d like to follow us, we can continue introductions in a less crowded space. Is that alright?”’ asked Lin with a smile. She could hardly remember Lin smiling, but the way he did it… it looked wrong. It _felt_ wrong. Too forced, and tired, and sad.

She barely noticed Madame Bustier answering, much less when they started leaving. So much less that Alya tried to grab her arm and drag her, but Adrien was faster. So yeah, now she was walking arm in arm with Adrien. No big deal.

They didn’t go far, just further down the hall and closer to the exits. Cool air, as well as light, washed upon them, even back at the end of the group where Mari was huddled.

“Girl, what are you doing?” hissed Alya, face scrunched up in confusion. “Those are your friends. Go say hi.”

“I can’t just do that. What if they don’t recognize me?”

“If they don’t recognize you they weren’t good friends in the first place,” mumbled Chloe from behind her. “At that point, you’d be better off witho—”

‘“So, if we could get your names before we go, that would be great,”’ said Yuki with a small clap of her hands. ‘“Who wants to go first?”’

Kim went first. And by that I mean that he rushed to the front of the group as Alix facepalmed, took Yuki’s hand in his and kissed her knuckles under Madame Bustier’s glare. Mari wanted to puke. ‘“The name’s Kim Lê Chien. _Enchanté_.”’ Yuki did not look impressed. Nor did Lin for that matter.

Chloe shook her head at him. “Idiot.”

“Don’t be mean, Chlo,” said Nath, nudging her with a pointy elbow.

‘“Yeahhh… _Je ne suis pas_ ,”’ answered Yuki, taking her hand away as well as a step back. ‘“Better luck next time.”’

Alix laughed at poor Kim, who blushed as red as humanly possible.

Mari had to admit though, the French? It sounded good, even with her slight accent. She hadn’t even known she could speak it. Well it had also been nearly ten years. A lot could have happened.

‘“I’m so sorry about him,”’ sighed Madame Bustier. She sent another small glare at the boy, who withered under the force of it. ‘“Kim can be a bit… forward at times.”’

‘“Only a bit?”’ snickered Alix. She took a step forward and shoock both Yuki’s and Lin’s hand with a grin. ‘“I’m Alix Kubdel. Kim’s _better_ half.”’

And may I mention that I really want to know where Madame Bustier buys her patience or what deity she bribes to have so much of it. It’s insane.

Max was about to follow Alix and Kim’s example, but Rose rushed past him, dragging a flushed up Juleka with her. ‘“Hi! I’m Rose Lavillant.”’ She tugged slightly Juleka’s hand, making the other girl take a step closer. ‘“And this is my girlfriend Juleka. Your shirt is very nice!”’

Oh shit. A shiver ran down Mari’s back as she stared wide eyed at her old friends. This could end two ways, either extremely badly or extremely nicely.

Well, luck seemed to be on their side. Yuki smiled as wide as possible and shook Rose’s hand with both hers. ‘“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Your dress looks amazing too.”’

Meanwhile, Lin took Juleka’s hand and leaned in close to her. Somehow he looked sadder than before. He whispered something to her, and Mari worried about her classmate for the brief second before she caught a “be careful” on his lips.

Good Lord, this was going to kill her.

Max went after them, a bit cheerier than Mari had expected, and while Mylene and Ivan introduced themselves she hid behind Nino’s tall frame.

Adrien looked at her with a creased eyebrow. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, just…” she wildly shooed him away, “you guys go first. I’m gonna hide a little longer.”

“Mari I swear I will drag you to the front of the group.”

“Let her be, Als,” said Nino. “She just wants to get her confidence up.”

Nathaniel went next, shielding their conversation from prying eyes.

“Fine,” conceded Alya. Then she shot a concerned glance at Mari. “You need to get a grip though. We’ll be up soon.”

Chloe went, only half begrudgingly at the opportunity to chat with someone who had “respectable fashion sense”.

Adrien put a light hand on her shoulder, and she didn’t know whether to be grateful or to explode. “It’ll be fine Mari. They won’t hate you.” Then off he went to introduce himself.

Mari peered into her purse and found Tikki looking up at her. The kwami smiled and nodded her head once as confidently as she could. Mari smiled. She closed the purse and took a deep breath.

Nino took a step forward, leaving her exposed, leaving Yuki’s and Lin’s eyes free to zero in on her. She sent them the most innocent smile she could muster, which wasn’t exactly a convincing one. I mean, she was pretty much dying inside. Give her some rest.

‘“I’m Nino Lahiffe. Glad to meet you dudes.”’

Lin shook himself and went to greet Nino. Though when he was presented with a fistbump, his brain shortcircuited. Yuki on the other hand was all for it, but she kept glancing at Mari out of the corner of her eye.

Alya, seeing her boyfriend’s mistake if you could call it that, went in for a more reliable handshake. ‘“Alya Cesaire. Ignore my boyfriend’s antics, he likes to look cool.”’

“I noticed,”’ chuckled Lin.

Then, Alix came up from behind Mari and shoved her to the front of the group. ‘”Come on, we don’t have all day.”’

Mari withered under Yuki’s ice-cold glare. ‘“Yeah, uhm… Hi, I’m—”’

‘“Oh believe me, Em, we know who you are,”’ said Yuki, much to the surprise of all the classmates Mari still hadn’t talked to. And to Alya’s soft “ouch”.

‘“R-Right,”’ began Mari, sticking a finger forward. ‘“Before you start—”’

‘“Nine years, eleven months and twenty-eight days.”’

‘“Oh boy,”’ muttered Mari, but she went unheard under Yuki’s dry tone.

‘“Not a letter. Not a call. Not even a single _freaking_ text.”’

Lin looked at her wide-eyed and he mouthed her a soft ‘“run”’. Honestly, Mari really wanted to. It would have been nicer than having the literal rest of the class — and some more — openly staring at her.

‘“What do you have to say for yourself?”’

All of Nino, Alya and Adrien glared at Yuki, while Chloe just raised an accusing eyebrow. They were all stopped by Nath, who grabbed Alya by her wrist and silently glanced at them.

‘“I’m sorry,”’ said Mari as she rubbed a hand up and down her arm. ‘“I didn’t mean to disappear like that.”’

‘“You’re still a living mess, aren’t you, _xiǎo Mei_ ,”’ chuckled Lin.

Mari almost didn’t catch that though, because Yuki engulfed her in a hug that almost broke her spine. ‘“Jesus, Yu, have you been lifting or something?”’

‘“I’m sorry, I’m confused,”’ said Madame Bustier with the deepest sigh of the whole year. ‘“Marinette… Care to explain?”’

Lin put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, patting her twice. ‘“Why doesn’t she do that on the bus. Like… Alix said, we don’t have all day.”’

‘“You could ask her all the awkward questions you want with nowhere for her to run,”’ smirked Yuki.

Kim was the one to answer them. “That sounds like a plan.”’

‘“Why must you sell me out like this?”’

‘“Must be karma,”’ deadpanned Lin. He turned around and began walking towards the exit.

‘“Speaking of karma,”’ said Yuki as she threw an arm around Mari’s shoulders and took out her phone with the other hand. She stopped tapping and long-pressed something, getting the phone closer to her mouth. «Hey Shi, guess who we found at the airport?»

«What?» asked Mari as the same time as Lin said «I hate you.»

‘“What was that about?”’ asked Alya, appearing on Mari’s other side.

“Nothing you’ve got to worry about,”’ said Yuki. Which didn’t do much to satisfy Alya’s curiosity. Mari had a feeling she’d be harassing Adrien for translations for the rest of the week.

As soon as they got in range of the automatic doors, those opened for them, leaving them free to see the sky above them and the skyscrapers in the distance. ‘“Everyone, welcome to Beijing!”’

And though things were going very smoothly, Mari could feel the curious stares of her classmates already prickling her skin. And they barely knew anything! As she gazed at the skyline against the rising sun, an uneasy, dirty feeling settled on her bones. Everything around her screamed _dull_ and _lifeless_. Where was her beautiful, colorful home?  
There was something so very wrong there. And she had no idea what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, it's Az.  
> Hope you guys had a pleasant month (and a half) while I was away.  
> Like I said in last chapter, school sucks and exams suck. At least I got out with the highest mark (good ol' 100) and as of yesterday I am officially a Uni student. Yay.  
> Anyway, chapters shouldn't take as long, now. Not for the rest of the summer at least. I might do something along the lines of one chapter every two weeks, but no promises!  
> One last thing. I want to thank you all for the 1k hits. I almost freaked out when I noticed that. Love you all.  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you want to chat feel free to visit my Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/le-amazing-az  
> See you next time!  
> ↠Az


	6. Myths! In the Museum❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari's friends have taken to each other like fire to hay (is that the right idiom?) and she isn't really sure she likes it. At least Lin tells good stories about the things in the museum. Let's just hope they don't come up later ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhh, a bit more than two weeks but I made it. Wanted to get some worldbuilding done, hype up a few characters you'll meet, and I wanted to do it right. Hope you like it!

Mari went back to her seat groaning her frustration out and promptly propped her head against the back of the seat in front of her — by coincidence Yuki’s — letting Alya pat her shoulder from her side. _Why couldn’t the earth actually open up under people’s feet and send them tumbling directly to the after-life?_

Her classmates had decided that asking her questions for the better part of an hour was a good idea, and her throat had completely dried up because of it. A man lost in the Sahara probably craved water less than she did.

A blessing better known as a bottle of water was shoved under her eyes. She looked up and found Adrien smiling at her as he held out the thing. “You good?”

“I want to die.” She spotted Yuki turning around from her seat to send her a worried look, but she decided to ignore it and unscrew the cap. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem. I’ve got, like, three more in my backpack.”

Nath sent Adrien a weird look. “How do you even fit that many?”

“He won’t tell,” said Nino, almost scandalized. “Mary Poppins here can fit so much stuff in that thing it’s insane.”

“I’m not Mary Poppins.”

“Adrien, honey,” said Chloe, pausing for dramatic effect, “you absolutely are.”

“Am not!”

Alya leaned over Mari with her best cut-your-bullshit look printed all over her face. “I saw you put a whole wheel of cheese in that bag. Stop lying to yourself, Agreste.”

Adrien went slightly red as the people around him started to laugh, Yuki included.

‘“Sounds like you _are_ quite the Mary Poppins. Either that or you stole her bag,”’ she chuckled.

Adrien picked up the hint and replied in English. ‘“That’s it guys, my reputation is ruined. I hope you have at least enjoyed yourselves.”’

Chloe noticed Nath biting back a smile and what she just knew was a funny retort. She nudged him, and when he looked at her she nodded at him to go ahead. He looked back down at his sketch and smiled. ‘“What reputation?”’

The whole bus went silent. Until… ‘“BOOM! Murdered on the spot.”’

Adrien looked at Nath wide-eyed as Nino and Alya started laughing their asses off. Even Mari and Yuki were in hysterics, much like the rest of the class. The only exceptions were Madame Bustier and Lin, who seemed to be the only two mature people in there. And the driver. Almost missed her.

‘“I can _not_ believe this.”’ Adrien pointed a joking finger at Nath, who was fist-bumping Chloe in the midst of all the chaos. ‘“I trusted you. I thought you were a good guy. The betrayal.”’

Lin couldn’t hold back a smile this time. He smirked at Yuki as he nudged her, and it was the brightest Mari had seen him since they’d met again.  
‘“He’d get along amazingly with Mr. drama,”’ he said, making Yuki snicker.

‘“Who?”’ asked Mari, ignoring Adrien’s fake-offended ‘“are you calling me dramatic?”’

‘“Shi,”’ deadpanned Lin. ‘“I swear, he’s got a dramatic streak to rival Shakespeare.”’

Mari winced in her seat. ‘“Yeah… Remind me, who is he again?”’

Alya looked at her like she was done. ‘“Are you kidding me?”’

‘“Oh no, it’s fine,”’ said Yuki, waving her hands around to stop the glare Alya was sending Mari. ‘“We completely forgot. You probably wouldn’t be able to recognize him. He’s changed a lot, but, uhm… Tall guy, dark-skinned, has nicknames for everyone—”’

‘“Always stealing cookies from the kitchens,”’ interrupted Lin.

Mari brightened up and clapped her hands together. ‘“Oh, space boy!”’

Yuki sent her exasperated glare from Lin to Mari, leaving the boy free to grin. ‘“I mean, you’re not wrong.”’

‘“Anyway, you’ll see what I mean when we visit the castle. We’re definitely going to meet him. He’s interning there.”’

Mari raised an eyebrow. ‘“Really?”’

‘“As the king’s personal assistant,”’ added Lin.

‘“No way.”’

‘“He is. I mean,”’ Yuki and Lin smirked at each other, ‘“how could he refuse?”’

‘“What, he got a girlfriend there or something?”’ asked Nino.

‘“Oh, you got so close.”’

‘“You’ve got to be kidding. Is it someone I know?”’

Just then, something seemed to lit up in Adrien’s brain. ‘“Wait, is it the princess?”’

‘“Oh you got even closer,”’ grinned Yuki. ‘“But no, it’s not dà Mei,”’ she finished, winking at Mari.

Chloe made a confused face. “Da Mei?”

‘“Little Mei, big Mei,”’ answered Lin, pointing first at Mari then somewhere in the distance. ‘“We had to differentiate somehow since they have the same name.”’

He looked out of the window and noticed where they were, so he stood up and got at the front of the aisle. ‘“Ok everyone! We’re doing a quick stop at the hotel to check you in and get your rooms. Don’t start arguing about the rooms, you can do that this evening. Just leave your luggage in one of them.”’

‘“And as Lin said, be quick. We’ve got stuff to do this morning.”’

And that’s how they found themselves at the National Museum a mere forty minutes later, roaming through the big rooms filled with paintings and sculptures and ceramics. Yuki and Lin led them through the halls, telling stories of the various dynasties as they went along and looked around.

The class was… all over the place. They risked leaving someone behind way more than one time. Alix and Kim kept dragging an unwilling Max around, especially towards the armors and weapons. On the other hand, Mylene and Rose were fawning over vases and statuettes while Juleka held the latter’s hand. She was looking at a nearby painting of the imperial family when she was startled by a random Nathaniel popping up beside her sketching furiously with a starstruck look in his eyes.

Abandoned by her art-obsessed friend, Chloe was hanging onto Adrien’s arm for dear life. They were two of the three people — the last one being Mari — who were actually listening to Yuki and Lin’s explanations.  
Ivan and Madame Bustier were only half listening, too busy either trying not to bump into anything or checking that no one broke anything. And Nino was in a corner nearby, striking poses beside the artifacts for Alya to photograph. Without the flash; she had checked.

So, Adrien was there, just casually listening to Mari’s conversation with Lin and Yuki about the cultural development during the Yuan dynasty — was it the Yuan dynasty? — when a painting on his left caught his gaze. People dressed in white sat in a circle around a white flower. That wasn’t what caught his attention though. No, that honor went to the big symbol of crisscrossing lines above the monks’ heads. Wasn’t that the same symbol…

Adrien tilted his head slightly. He took out his phone, ignoring Chloe’s curious stare, and opened the gallery. He scrolled to a photo he took months before of the cover of the book he found in his father’s safe and sneakily glanced between the cover and the painting. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely was. He started the audio recorder and pocketed his phone.

‘“Uhhh, sorry to interrupt. What’s that over there?”’

The whole group looked at the painting Adrien was pointing towards and Yuki’s eyes lit up. ‘“Oh, that! Well, the guys painted there are the monks of the Order of the Lotus—”

“You mean the Society of the White Lotus?”

“No, not them. They come much later. We’re still in the fourteenth century here.” Lin shook his head at Adrien’s question, but then looked at the boy with eyes full of curiosity. “You know Chinese history?”’

“I mean, I’m learning the language.” He shrugged and smiled at the two impressed locals. “History isn’t half as difficult.”

Yuki chuckled. “True that. Anyway, those people in the painting are just simple monks, nothing to do with the White Lotus. And most people believe them to be just a legend too.”’

Lin crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. ‘“They’re not just a legend.”’

‘“I said _most_ people, learn to listen.”’

‘“I’ve seen that symbol before,”’ said Mari. She had her eyes fixated on the painting but snapped her head towards Lin when he answered.

‘“From what I know it’s supposed to be some sort of lock. You probably saw it at my home when you came over.”’

‘“Nah, she had one in her room too,”’ said Yuki as she sent Lin a look. Then she looked Mari in the eyes. ‘“I’m pretty sure it was your mother who put it there. She was always going on about spirits and stuff.”’

Chloe kept frowning at the painting through the whole explanation. As soon as the two were done, she spoke. ‘“Why would people believe they’re a legend if there’s a painting though? I mean, that’s just ridiculous.”’

Her loud tone was enough to catch Alya and Nino’s attention, and even Nathaniel reappeared magically at Chloe’s side to carefully study the painting.

‘“Well, that’s because…”’ Yuki trailed off mid-sentence, wondering how to best phrase it, and Lin took the opportunity to take over her explanation.

‘“According to the stories, they were founded by a man and his sisters who had met the spirits, and they had given them some artifacts blessed with their powers. The Order’s mission was to protect and study those objects and their powers. For many people, that’s too unrealistic.”’

‘“Besides—”’ Yuki waved a hand around— ‘“the Order was disbanded centuries ago. And no one knows what the artifacts looked like nor what they were, so people just… don’t believe they ever existed.”’

Alya nodded her head along. ‘“Yeah, that makes sense. It sure does sound fascinating though. What did you say was their name again?”’

‘“The Order of the Lotus. Order and lotus have a capital.”’ Lin smiled at the girl. ‘“Plan on doing your own research?”’

“Is that ok?”

“Research away,” he grinned.

Nino threw an arm around Alya’s shoulders. “That’s dope and all, but why was it disbanded?”

Alya looked at him like he was either a genius or her savior. Can’t really tell the difference with her.

‘“Because of all the power conflicts,”’ said Lin. He risked a glance to the side, where a guy was scowling at Juleka’s and Rose’s joined hands. Better keep an eye on him.  
‘“There were quite a few groups at war with each other around this time, and during the Ming dynasty it got even worse. And the artifacts as we said had power. Enough to destroy the world should they have fallen in the wrong hands. They probably went into hiding so that no one could set off the apocalypse or something like that.”’

He saw Mari put a tense hand on her purse. ‘“That sounds incredible.”’

Then, the guy took a step towards the girls. Lin pretended to look at his watch, though he already knew what time it was, and loudly announced, ‘“ok everyone, gather up. We’re moving to another exposition.”’

There were a few groans, especially from Alix and Kim, but Lin saw the moment the first clocked in on the same guy he had seen. She elbowed Kim in the stomach and nodded towards the guy.  
His eyes widened and the two speed-walked towards the group of girls. Alix weaved her arms around Rose and Juleka and started dragging them off under Kim’s watchful gaze. ‘“Come on girls, you heard the man.”’

Well, at least that was well taken care of. And subtly too.

Now was Yuki’s turn to lead the class through the halls, explaining the function of the various ceramics and jades as they passed them. Nath and Rose were pretty much hanging from her lips.  
Which, in Lin’s opinion, wasn’t hard to understand; Yuki had an incredibly sweet and soft voice.

They spent a couple of hours like that, going through the various expositions. The only one that proved a bit more difficult was the Modern History section. Especially as they got closer to the most recent part. That was where that one big painting Mari had done with her parents when she was four was and people were bound to notice the similarity. And yes, Mari had a painting. Deal with it.

So, guess who noticed? No, it was not Adrien this time. It was _freaking Nathaniel_ , art boi supreme.

‘“Uhhh, Mari?”’ he called, looking up at the painting with his mouth agape. He had even stopped sketching. ‘“Is that you?”’

Marinette turned around and immediately paled. ‘“O–Oh, oh no, that’s not me, that’s—”’

‘“That’s dà Mei. The princess,”’ interrupted Yuki. She walked towards them and chuckled at Nath’s dumbfounded expression. ‘“Yeah, I know. They look a lot like each other. Back when we were younger it was a nightmare. We could hardly tell them apart.”’

‘“Really? That sounds like a pain.”’

‘“Yeah, it probably was.”’ Mari sent Yuki a glance and found the girl beckoning her to add something. She searched her head for something she’d do if she’d had a twin and smiled. ‘“We used to swap places you know? She’d go home with my parents and I’d spent the night exploring the castle.”’

‘“And then you two would get caught because she forgot to ask for cookies after dinner.”’

The three turned around and found a grinning Lin behind them. Mari turned red — it’s not like he had lied — and playfully shoved him away. ‘“Shut up.”’

‘“That sure sounds like you,”’ smirked Alya from nearby.

Yuki raised a perfectly cured eyebrow. ‘“Chocolate chip cookies?”’

‘“Chocolate chip cookies.”’

She laughed and held back a half-fuming, half-dying Mari. ‘“Please tell me she still trips over her feet.”’

‘“What are you talking about, she trips over thin air.”’

‘“You both can go fuck yourselves.”’

For some reason, Lin cracked up, while Yuki gasped and suddenly let Mari go, making her fall to the floor. ‘“Mei, mind your language! Where has your innocence gone?”’

Mari lifted her head from the floor, rolled over and looked Yuki in her impossibly blue eyes. ‘“Dead. It has left my soul long ago.”’

‘“Don’t worry, she just forgot to pack it for the trip. It’s probably in a laundry basket in Paris.”’

Yuki looked at Alya and smiled. “You’re the best friend.”

“And you held the title before me,” replied Alya.

The two exchanged a smirk over Mari’s head, and the girl groaned as Nath helped her up. ‘“I almost regret letting you two meet.”’

Yuki ignored her and went to sling an arm around Alya’s shoulder, leaning down to her from her heels-enhanced height. ‘“You got the gossip?”’

‘“As a future journalist, I take offense to that.”’ She opened her eyes and glanced at Yuki’s apologetic face just to smirk and interrupt her before she could even speak. ‘“I only got the truth.”’

‘“Ughhh, yep. I regret it.”’

She was shocked by Nath patting her twice on her shoulder with a somber expression. “There, there.”

‘“Is that everything you have to say?”’

Nath smiled and shrugged, then went off to sketch some more next to Chloe.

So, Mari looked around. She was in one of the places which held the most information on her past, and still no one suspected her. So far so good. But as Alya and Yuki chattered about, she just wondered how long the peace would actually last. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's Az again.  
> We're getting close to 1.5k and I??? am shook??? This is so incredible, I love you all.  
> So, from next chapter on we're gonna diverge more and more from the canon. Hopefully I can do that without making the characters to OOC. That's one big worry, especially with Nath and Chloe (plz let me know if they were ok in this chapter).  
> Anyways, although the story is kind of already set, I'd like to know if there's anything you'd like to see — or see more of. I have a good bit of space to fill in between the main plot points, and your ideas are as good as mine most of the time!  
> Anyways, that's it for a little bit. Hope you all are doing well and that you enjoyed this chapter. As always, f you want to chat feel free to visit my Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/le-amazing-az  
> See you next time!  
> ↠Az


	7. The weirdest things happen in crowded places❀

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What can I say. Marketplaces are very weird and magical places, of course something's gonna happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. It's been a while. I've had some troubles, but I made it. More on that in the end notes.  
> Today we get a bit of switching POV, starring Lin. Enjoy!

The visit to the museum had proved itself a nightmare in and of itself in the end. Letting Alya and Yuki meet was the biggest mistake of Mari’s life, and even if it weren’t first on the list it would still be up there. Sure, she didn’t want the two to become sworn enemies or the like, but did they have to get along so well?

As the group got out of the imposing building, things… changed. There was no other way to describe it. Mari had noticed it already — outside the airport and while on the minibus — but walking towards the park they were going to eat in really drove the point home: something was really, extremely, _terribly_ wrong. A cloud of… something hung over the city, but not in a light way. It weighed down on the buildings, battered the trees, drained the light out of people’s eyes, withered the colors and it was _all around her_.

A chill settled deep in her bones as she shivered, and something made her grab on the purse Tikki was hiding in. It offered her little comfort, but at least it was something.

Not wanting to disturb Lin’s conversation with Madame Bustier, she slowed down her pace until she was next to Yuki, who was talking amiably with Alya.

‘“Hey.”’ She grabbed Yuki’s wrist, which brought back memories of being five and running around the palace but that wasn’t the time for them. ‘“What’s going here?”’

‘“What are you talking about, girl?”’ asked Alya just as Yuki said ‘“you mean with the weather?”’

‘“It’s not just the weather, Yuki. It’s…”’

‘“Everything,”’ finished the older girl. When Mari nodded, she sighed. ‘“To be honest, your guess is as good as mine. It’s been like this for five years.”’

‘“Well someone’s got to know then,”’ piped up Nino from Alya’s other side.

Yuki shook her head. ‘“Not really. King Qiu had many teams of scientists formed and sent all around here to research what’s going on, but they’ve found nothing and it’s only been getting worse. You could travel three days straight in any direction and it’s all the same.”’

Mari frowned up at the sky. ‘“That’s…”’

‘“Impressive,”’ said Nino just as Alya said ‘“weird”’. She glared at him, making him shrug with a smile.

‘“It is,”’ said Yuki, though Mari didn’t understand who she was agreeing with. ‘“Zhe— uhm, someone says there’s spirits at play, powerful ones, and Queen Na’s been backing him up for a while.”’

‘“Hm-hm, and who’s this someone? A boyfriend?”’ grinned Alya.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mari caught Yuki glancing at her.

‘“Can’t tell you. Sorry.”’

‘“Aw, why not?”’

‘“Because reasons.”’

“I’ll have you know that—”’

“You ok?”

Mari startled at Adrien’s voice on her right. The boy was mere inches away from her. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“O-Oh no, it’s alright, you’re fine, don’t worry.” She looked away from him, but on her other side were the gleaming eyes and knowing grins of her best friends. She turned back to Adrien. “You were saying?”

“Are you ok?” He put a hand her shoulders, which thankfully helped her ground her thoughts. “You look… worried.”

Mari sighed. “I guess I am. I just— There’s something _wrong_ in the air, you know?”

Adrien nodded and crossed his arms behind his head. “Yeah, I get it. I’ve never been here, but it feels like—”

‘“Will you two stop speaking French, it’s rude,”’ said Chloe, shoving them apart and speed-walking past them and towards Lin and Madame Bustier.

Nath jogged after her, whisper-shouting ‘“Chlo. Chlo, apologize to them.”’

‘“Sorry!”’

‘“That’s not an apology, Chlo.”’

“Yeah, that’s not an apology Chlo, you’re so rude.”’ jumped on Adrien. He started running, a wild grin on his face as the blonde yelped and started running faster.

“Yo, wait for me, dude.” Nino went after them, his own bag swinging wildly off his shoulder.

Mari watched the four wind around their classmates and laughed at Alya’s “get her ass, babe” and Yuki’s horrified screech and Lin’s tirade on what is and isn’t proper.

Lost in the chaos of her friends’ laughter, her earlier worries slipped away, in an unbidden corner of her mind. There they stayed for quite a while, drowned by noise and joy so loud the world seemed brighter, more vivid. It echoed through the restaurant that they ate in, rolled down the streets as they went, bounced on the walls of the Forbidden City, even when they quieted down after Lin scolded them.

And when they got to the market, oh… it was beautiful. It was as if life itself had been born in that place. None of the grey and the dull of before could reach them.

Lin left them free to roam — of course he did — and they immediately dispersed. Not Mari though. She stayed where she was for a few more seconds, watching as Alya dragged Nino and Yuki away. Alix’s bright pink hair was barely visible through the crowd, but it was somewhere near a stall selling what looked like decorative weapons, while the other girls crowded around Juleka at a shop’s window.

«Nice place, isn’t it?»

Mari whipped around and found Lin standing right next to her. She relaxed slightly. «Yeah, it is. Seriously though, Liulichang street?»

He smirked at her and shrugged. «You can’t blame me. I’m not the one pulling strings left and right. Besides, the three of you _were_ always saying you wanted to visit.»

Mari struggled to keep up with his fast talking — well, fast by her standards — but when she registered his words she turned towards him and raised a confused eyebrow. Lin did nothing but nod towards Adrien, who was standing just over a meter away, and wink.

And yes, I said meters. We’ve got French and Chinese teens in China, we use the metric system. There will be none of that “feet” shit here. Find an online converter and deal with it.

(I’m just joking. Here, know that one meter is roughly three feet.) But I digress.

«Shall we go?» asked Lin. He gestured towards the street stretching out before them, littered in bright colors and rich scents, and smiled. «There’s a lot of really nice stuff this time of the year. Plus with dà Mei’s coronation and the festival around it, a lot of people have set up pop-up stalls while they wait for the festival.»

«Well that sounds nice,» said Adrien from Mari’s other side. Which was proof he was listening in. «Hey Lin, do you know if there’s a shop that sells cool stuff with… I don’t know, traditional patterns or something? Like, floral or natural, things like that.»

Mari could almost see the gears turning in Lin’s brain. «I’m not sure, it depends on the context. If it’s romantic I’d try Lan’s Home of Finery, there in the corner.»

«Oh no, it’s nothing like that,» laughed Adrien as he shook his head. «I’ll have to think about that one too, but this one’s for my father.»

«I didn’t think he’d be one to like, uhhh…» started Mari, but soon trailed off trying to recall a word.

«Souvenirs?»

«Yeah, souvenirs. Thanks.»

«No problem. And yeah, he isn’t, but he wanted something for inspiration. He’s been a bit wiped out since—»

Mari stopped listening. Something had tugged at her heart and she stopped dead in her tracks pretty much at the same time as Adrien stopped speaking. «Did you feel that?»

«Feel what?» asked Lin, his eyebrows creased. Adrien’s voice rang clearer though.

«You felt it too?»

Mari exchanged a look with him. Again, that weird tug pulled at her soul, bidding her forward. She put her hand on his arm, barely noticing, and let it slide down until their fingers entwined.

«Hey. Is everything okay?»

She ignored Lin and started walking, faster and faster until Adrien and her were running together, barely avoiding the people around them. The market whirled around them, drowning them in its loud colors and in the sharp voices of its sea of people.

Someone ran straight into them, and all three fell to the floor.

“ALYA!”

Mari stopped massaging her head and snapped her head up. Alya was half sprawled on her chest, while she herself was on top of Adrien.

“Oh god, can you two get up?”

Alya bristled. “That’s rude, Agreste,” she said but stood up nonetheless.

Nino and Yuki ran up to them from Mari’s left, wide-eyed and worried. Adrien was still on the floor, so Nino offered him a hand and effortlessly pulled him up. Mari on the other hand was up and kicking, but Yuki pulled her to the side and started patting away the dirt on her clothes.

‘“Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Alya shouldn’t have been running in this crowd, we didn’t see…”’ Yuki stopped talking, her hands stilled, and a harsh shiver ran down Mari’s spine. Once again, something inside her lurched forward. Judging by the way Adrien’s eyes widened and Alya and Nino clung to each other, they felt it too. Yuki as well probably. “You…” she finished, nothing more than a whisper.

‘“Are you mad?”’ came a shout behind them. Lin emerged from the crowd with a scowl set in his face. ‘“You gotta be. Why would you run off like that?”’

‘“You mean you don’t feel it?”’ said a voice a few ways in front of them. Mari looked up and found Chloe and Nath frowning at them. They looked petrified, probably on the verge of hugging each other if the way they stood close together, arms brushing, was anything to go by.

Lin’s shoulders dropped down. As he looked at the newly arrived duo, worry etched itself in his eyes, his anger now faded. ‘“You two as well?”’

When Chloe and Nath nodded, they all looked to Mari and Adrien, and then to Yuki, Alya, and Nino. At Yuki’s nod, Mari felt someone grab her wrist and start dragging her away.

‘“We need to get out of the way, follow me,”’ came Lin’s voice.

They sped through the crowd and in minutes they were in a small alleyway behind the shops. It was run down and littered with garbage, and the smell was awful.

‘“You’d better have a good reason to drag us here, I’m wearing white pants and if I get dirt on them you’re doing my laundry for a week,”’ threatened Yuki, dusting herself off with puffy hands.

Lin, careful not to touch a single thing himself, rolled his eyes. ‘“We were attracting attention. I’d rather not do this in the middle of a crowd. What is it that you felt?”’

‘“Pulling.”’

‘“It’s this weird tugging—”’

‘“Like someone’s dragging you somewhere.”’ Mari directed the comment to Lin, though there was no bite to it.

‘“Alright, alright, I get it.”’ Lin flicked her arm and she smirked at him.

‘“Okay, we need to understand what’s pulling you and where to. It’s most likely at least a bit dangerous, so—”’

‘“Great,”’ said Mari as another pulse tugged her back to the main street, “cause it’s my turn to drag you now.”’ She clapped a hand around Lin’s wrist and started walking.

Adrien walked beside her, turning around every few steps to exchange glances with Nino and Alya. Chloe and Yuki had taken the lead, Nath just behind them, but even without really seeing where they were going Mari could tell they were in the right direction. That weird pulling sensation got stronger and stronger with every step, beckoning her forward and ringing in her ears — was that normal? — loud enough to drown Lin’s complaints. It sent her careening in Nath’s back when he stopped dead in his tracks.

Chloe ignored them bumping into her and stared unseeingly at a stall near the end. It had strange metallic bowls and narrow wooden boxes. Simple jewels hung from a few racks or glistened from behind the protective glass panes, framing the picture of a Buddha. ‘“It’s there.”’

Lin tugged his wrist free of Mari’s hold and straightened his blazer, eyeing the stall carefully. ‘“At the Tibetan stand? Are you sure?”’

‘“How do you know it’s Tibetan?”’ asked Alya.

‘“See the white banner behind the vendor? The writing's in Tibetan. It says _‘Om Mani Padme Hum’_. It’s a typical mantra.”’

‘“And you just happen to know that?”’

‘“My grandparents were Tibetan,”’ he deadpanned. After a second of silence, he spoke up again. ‘“You guys stay here, I’ll check it out.”’

Lin started going, but Mari and Chloe put themselves right in his path. ‘“And why are you the one going?”’

He crossed his arms and glared at the two. ‘“Because if it’s dangerous it could hurt you. It can’t hurt me, I can’t feel whatever it is.”’

‘“You won’t know what you’re looking for though,”’ said Nath from beside them.

‘“He’s right, dude.”’ Nino shuddered lightly and both him and Alya took a step closer to each other. ‘“I don’t like it, but you gotta take someone with you.”’

Alya nodded along at the boy’s words. ‘“Someone who speaks Chinese is best probably. At least you can interact.”’

“Fine,” conceded Lin with a final sigh.

Mari took a step to the side, letting the stand back in sight. ‘“Good, cause I’m coming with you.”’

‘“Nope, not you. Adrien’s coming with me.”’

‘“I am?”’ he said, but immediately caught himself and stepped up to Lin’s side. ‘“I mean, I am, of course.”’

‘“Ughhh, why not Yuki or I?”’

“Because I’m older, I’m in charge and I said so. Yuki stays here to keep an eye on all of you and you stay here to stay safe. Come on, Adrien, let’s go.»

He ignored Adrien rushing to his side and started thinking about how he could go about it. He had half an idea, but he wasn’t sure it could work.

Only a few meters away, Adrien broke the silence. «You’re very protective of her.»

Lin hadn’t expected Adrien to talk to him then, but alas here they were. «Is that a bad thing?»

«Not at all,» he hurried to say. He put a hand on an outer pocket of his messenger bag, just above a small lump. «I’m actually very grateful for it. She doesn’t usually get in trouble, but when she does it’s hell.»

Lin let a sad smile slip on his face. «Can’t say I’m surprised. Not with everything that’s happening around Paris.»

«Don’t remind me. It’s a nightmare. We haven’t had one normal day since— Oh.» Adrien stopped and shuddered. «It’s way stronger here.»

That made sense to Lin. They were almost in front of the stand. Right then, the vendor finished exchanging farewells with the woman he was talking to, saw them, and waved them over.

«Think you’ll be alright?» He waited for Adrien’s nod and nodded back. «Good. Don’t touch anything. I’d rather not risk it.»

When they got to the vendor, the old man greeted them in broken Chinese. «Good afternoon, boys. Can I help with something?»

«Just information, sir,» Lin replied with a smile. «I am looking for gifts for my friends, and he is helping me choose.»

He nudged Adrien and sent him a sharp look. Thankfully, the other understood and left his side to look at the various trinkets on the stand.

«Ah, I see.» Lin looked back at the old man and saw him smile with laughter in his eyes. «New friendship, very scary at first. Want to prove something, am I right?»

Lin forced himself to chuckle, hoping he could convince the vendor. «More like old friends I met again. But yes.»

«Don’t worry, boy. If bad thing happened, not your fault. If just left, not your fault too. You just be good friend this time. I know you can.» The man grinned and winked, tapping his finger twice just beside his eye. «I see it.»

Lin relaxed his shoulders. A small smile slipped as he looked at the man’s confident expression. «Thank y—»

«Excuse me, sir,» called Adrien from the far left of the stand. He pointed at something. «What are these?»

Both Lin and the vendor went to see what he was pointing at. Seven small, round gems — what looked like gems — laid unpolished on a piece of cloth, dulled by time.

«Oh, those,» exclaimed the man. «Not many notice those, but they are very, very beautiful. My family have them for long time, you know? Never can sell them.»

Lin watched as Adrien frowned at them and tensed up when he hovered his and above the gems. Then, he snapped his head up to the vendor. «Can we have a moment to talk?»

«Sure, sure. I still be here when you come back. I do not disappear in seconds,» chuckled the old man.

Adrien grabbed Lin by the elbow and dragged him a few paces away, just out of the vendor’s earshot. «It’s the gems.»

«Yeah, I gathered that.» Lin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and crossed his arms instead. Behind Adrien, he saw the others looking at them from afar. Yuki raised an eyebrow at him, so he gestured to her to wait a bit longer. He turned his focus back to Adrien. «What do they feel like?»

«It’s weird. It’s like— it’s warm and comfortable. Like a hug, you know, or… or going home.»

«Like safety,» mumbled Lin, but Adrien heard him.

«Yeah, exactly like that. We should buy them.»

Lin shook his head. «I don’t know. I still think it could be dangerous.»

«They don’t feel dangerous.»

«Yet somehow they dragged us all here from the other end of the street.»

«Oh.» Adrien stopped for a second, then muttered «that’s a good point.»

Lin glanced at Adrien’s frown, then to their friends and back to the stand. Seven gems. Six people waiting for them plus Adrien. Yeah, there was no way that was a coincidence. Still, he had the weird feeling — that he shouldn’t dare trust — that things were going to be alright.

Things never went alright for them.

«On a scale from one to ten—» he started asking «—how strong was the feeling?»

Adrien stayed silent for a second. «Somewhere along the lines of a five. I wasn’t touching them though.»

He shouldn’t. He really really shouldn’t. He could be putting them in danger. But Adrien was right too, even to him it didn’t feel dangerous.

«Alright, we can get them. But the second anyone feels in danger I’m taking them back and locking them in a safe.»

Adrien looked at him weird at the mention of the safe. «That sounds a bit extreme. But yeah, sure. Whatever makes you feel better. Come on let’s go.»

«And here I thought I was done getting dragged,» mumbled Lin.

As soon as the vendor saw them coming back, he moved to stand behind the cloth with the gems. «Welcome back, boys. Have you decided?»

«Yeah. We’re buying them.»

The vendor stopped and looked at Lin. «All seven of them?»

«Yes.»

«Alright. Then I do you special price.»

«What—NO. There’s no need to—»

The man shoved his hand forward and stopped Lin. «Don’t worry. You are doing me favor buying them. Tried to sell them for long time. Let me just…» He took out a paper sheet written all over, and after a second he said, «three hundred is good price.»

«I…» Lin sighed and let his shoulders relax. «Yeah, that’s a good price.» He got his wallet from the inner pocket of his blazer and got the three hundred yuan out. Though, why was Adrien looking at him like he was crazy? «Here you go.»

The vendor took the money and wrapped the seven gems in the little cloth, then put them in a small pouch. «Thank you. Now go be good friend, boy.»

He took the pouch. He didn’t know why, but a weight settled on his soul just to disappear. He swallowed it down. «Have a nice afternoon, sir.»

As soon as the vendor waved them away, they started going back to their friends. Once again, Adrien hovered his hand above the pouch, but this time he frowned.

«That’s weird. They didn’t feel this strong back there.»

Lin glanced at him. «Maybe it’s because we’re closer to the others.»

‘“What is because you’re closer to us?”’

Lin snapped his head up and looked at Mari. ‘“Oh. Uhm, we found what's driving you guys crazy.”’ He didn't dare give her the pouch, but he did open it and get the seven gems out.

‘“Oh, they're beautiful!”’ Yuki made a grab for the gems, so he swatted her hand away

‘“No touching. I'm giving you rules first.”’

Chloe scowled. ‘“Why do we need rules?”’

‘“Because I'm still not sure they're not dangerous. Now, Adrian said they feel safe, but the moment things start going south or I think it's no longer safe, I take them back. Understood?”’

Even after everyone agreed, he hesitated to put his hand with the gems in the middle of the small circle they had created. The moment she could, Yuki dove straight in for the blue one — much as he had expected. She was obsessed with that color.

Mari and Adrien on the other hand hesitated before grabbing their gems, respectively the red and the black ones. Which, okay, Mari he could understand, but he would have never guessed Adrien would go for black. The green gem — which he had previously pegged on Adrien — went to Nino instead, while Alya and Chloe took the orange and the yellow ones. That left only the purple one for Nathaniel, but he didn't look too distraught. He was actually admiring the gem and its reflections against the light.

‘“You're right, it does feel safe,”’ said Yuki. She held the gem in both hands close to her chest and she had her eyes closed. She chuckled. ‘“Feels like that old armchair dad keeps in his study.”’

Lin looked around. All the others had a similar, relaxed expression on their faces. Like nothing could bother them or hurt them. He was glad they were safe, but he couldn’t help but not like it. They were bound to lower their guard sometime, and that could be dangerous. Especially for Mei. Marinette.

Well, if the others happened to get more careless, he’d just have to keep his eyes open.

Easier said than done, considering that was the exact moment things started going to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's Az again.  
> It's been a while, uh? I'm really sorry about that, August was a bit of a shit-show and in September I started Uni which is a whole other can of worms. Other than that though, I'm guilty as fuck and deserve being yelled at.  
> We're currently this close to 2k reads and that is, like, WOW, I didn't expect that to happen.  
> As you can see, we started diverging hard from canon, but the real boom will be next chapter (pray that it may not take two months to write). That is, to quote Lin, when things start going to shit.  
> By the way, what do you think of the OCs for now? They were really bland in the old version (still are, but I'm trying to fix that), so I'm trying to make them more vibrant but without overshadowing Mari and Adrien. That's a job for someone else.  
> Well, that is all for now. I'm not very active on my socials rn but if you want to chat feel free to visit my Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/le-amazing-az  
> See you next time!  
> ↠Az


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